After a protracted legal battle against the bankrupt Facemate Corp, in April 2009 the city was awarded ownership of the approximate 72-acre property. The company, which was behind in taxes and fees, was also ordered to pay the city $1.5 million.

Now officials are focusing on developing the property but it first must demolish most of the 23 buildings and clean up the contaminated soil underneath, which is expected to take years. In the fall of 2009, it took the first step to tear down six of the oldest and most deteriorated buildings on the Uniroyal site.

The next step is to come this summer when the city spends between $1.5 and $2 million to tear down the two main buildings used by Facemate and the former office building, which has been damaged by two different fires, Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said.

The money is expected to be borrowed through a federal program and paid back over time using a portion of the city’s Community Development Block Grant money received annually.

“It is a very complicated project. As an engineering challenge we would like to preserve the tower of one of the Facemate buildings,” he said.

The city has gone out to bid for an engineer and is expected to hire one this week, Bissonnette said.

Preliminary environmental tests have not found contamination on the site, but there is mercury and asbestos in the buildings, Bissonnette said.

“Uniroyal has serious PCB issues but Facemate was a textile mill and there isn’t that much in the ground,” he said. PCB’s are suspected carcinogens once used extensively in the manufacture of electrical equipment.

But Bissonnette said he will not be confident the land is clean until the work is finished.

A new about $8 million senior center is expected to be constructed on part of the Facemate property. Once the entire property is cleaned, which is expected to take years, the city will take proposals from developers interested in building on the rest of the land.

This new step will mean the city will take a big step forward in starting to redevelop the property.

“Once we get done with this set of projects everything from Oak Street to the Deady Bridge will be cleared and we will...focus on the rest of the Uniroyal buildings,” he said.

The Uniroyal portion of the site is more complicated, partly because of an agreement that Michelin North America Inc. will do some of the environmental work. Michelin owns the Uniroyal name, making the company liable for some of the clean up, he said.